What?s been achieved so far? ? Proper discussion regarding the changes has taken place with regular meetings between FSU Reps from Collections and St George Management ? Greater clarity regarding transition timetable is now being provided. (see below) ? Options regarding redeployment have improved. The bank has confirmed that no impacted employee will be forced to accept a directly comparable role. For staff interested in redeployment they have offered the option of redeploying into a lower graded position, for eg in CCC, on their current salary. ? Impacted staff are not required to participate in the training of the Offshore staff. ? An enhanced incentive arrangement will be put in place whereby impacted staff will have the opportunity to earn up to an additional $2,400 on the team achieving agreed performance outcomes. We have written to St George requiring that arrangements be put in place for FSU Reps to meet with management on a monthly basis to track and discuss the teams? monthly performance achievements. Transition Timetable St George have provided the Union with the following broad timetable for the transition of early stage Collections activities from Sydney to Bangalore: ? IBM Bangalore will commence outbound calls on 20 November. This will gradually progress to inbound calls. They will be provided with a variety of products to action including a mix of high and low risk customers and age of arrears. ? No retrenchments will occur in Collections before 8 January 2007. ? Expect to release staff from across all early stage Collections activities in a number of stages commencing from mid to late January 2007. ? Expectation of fully functional early stage collections team at IBM Bangalore by mid February 2007. ? Transition to be completed by mid to late March 2007. The Union is seeking more specific details in relation to the number of staff affected at each stage of the transition and the specific dates they will be released. More information soon. Consultation is Crucial... The Union has consistently sought that St George consult with staff and the Union before any decision is made to send work outside the bank. The Union believes that is a logical part of the decision making process and will continue to work with St George and other banks to ensure all stakeholders are listened to before such important decisions are made. Thanks for taking a Stand So far Collections staff have achieved a better deal than they would have if they hadn?t worked as group. Special thanks go to FSU members Ernest, Violet, Marissa, Marie, Cathy, Alexandra and Judith for standing up for the rights of their colleagues.

The decision by St George to offshore part of Collections has been a great disappointment. The Union will continue the campaign against the offshoring of finance sector jobs, but in the interim we have fought hard to get the best deal possible for impacted staff.